Prostate cells that look normal under a microscope and are considered benign
may actually be hiding genetic mutations that could develop into cancer,
according to new research.
A study published
in the journal Nature Genetics used genetic sequencing techniques
on tissue taken from the prostates of three men with prostate cancer. It
found that many of the “benign” cells surrounding tumours in fact had minor
genetic changes that could become cancerous in the long term.
Ros Eeles, professor of oncogenetics at The Institute of Cancer Research,
London and one of the study

Its wingspan exceeds that of a jumbo jet and it is lighter than a Land Rover
Discovery. When Solar
Impulse 2 takes off from Abu Dhabi this week, its backers hope that
those long, light wings will ensure that it becomes the first aircraft to
circumnavigate the globe using solar power alone.
While the plane’s designers are confident that it has the ability to cover the
distance non-stop, they are less confident that its pilots do. Eleven stops
are planned to deal with human frailties, such as the need for sleep. “We
have an aeroplane that is sustainable in terms of energ

Scientists may have developed a method for reading memories but there’s one
problem — they have to slice the brain into thin slices to do it.
A group of rats were trained to perform a task using one of two methods.
Afterwards, researchers found they could identify which rat had done it in
which way, simply by performing an autopsy on the rats’ brains.
In the experiment, reported in the journal Nature,
the rats were given three slots to put their nose into. First they learnt to
investigate the middle slot, where they heard either a high-pitched or
low-pitched sound.
Fo

The emperor penguin makes few demands of life. A plentiful supply of fish and
a solid slab of sea ice for waddling and procreation seem to be more than
sufficient.
Too much ice, however, makes for a very unhappy penguin indeed, according to a
genetic study. The last Ice Age, which led the Antarctic sea ice to double
in size, rendered the continent all but uninhabitable and brought the
penguins’ population down to just a seventh of what it is today, scientists
claim.
Geneticists have found that modern emperor penguins can all be traced back to
three refuges they fled t